Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and a former NASA chief visited the Space Coast this week to tout the senator's bid for re-election and the region's aerospace resurgence as the electoral countdown edges closer to next week's midterm.

Former NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, an Obama appointee, four-time shuttle astronaut and Marine Corps major general, sat down with Nelson at Port Canaveral for an informal meeting Wednesday and supported the senator's race against Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who is running for the same seat.

Despite the "incredible downturn" suffered by Brevard County in the wake of the space shuttle's retirement, Bolden said, the area has since seen signs of recovery thanks to the expansion of commercial space and aviation companies – something he said Nelson helped lay the groundwork for.

"Now, I think, the area is thriving," Bolden, seated next to Nelson, told FLORIDA TODAY at Grills Seafood Deck & Tiki Bar. "And you don't get that when people are constantly fighting and trying to point fingers. You do that when there's collaboration and collegiality. That's the reason I'm here, because I know what he can do and I know what he has done."

In explaining the post-shuttle era, Bolden and Nelson said the transition from the launch system to commercial space – companies like SpaceX, for example – has filled the program's gap and allowed NASA to focus its efforts on developing the Space Launch System, a "monster rocket" designed for deep-space missions and eventual trips to Mars.

"With the commercial aspect of the space activity, you have all these old abandoned launch pads out here coming to life," Nelson said. "That's where we're seeing all of this abundant space launch activity, including manufacturing."

In response to the meeting at Port Canaveral, Scott for Florida Press Secretary Lauren Schenone said Nelson was "directly responsible for not protecting the Space Coast from Obama's NASA budget cuts years ago."

“It’s insulting that Nelson would criticize the status of our shuttle program without accepting responsibility for his own inaction," she said in a statement. "The news reports speak for themselves: Nelson’s approach to saving the shuttle industry from Obama-era budget cuts in 2009 was described as ineffective, ‘not up to the task,’ and even ‘pathetic.’ Now, Sen. Bill Nelson is trying to rewrite history, but the thousands of Floridians who lost their jobs and livelihoods as a result of his failure won’t be fooled."

Scott, who took office in 2011 and has made jobs creation a pillar of his governorship, has seen a growing Space Coast economy take shape with help from several companies and organizations. Major players like Harris, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Brazilian jet manufacturer Embraer and others already had operations here, but have expanded over the years.

Blue Origin, spearheaded by Amazon founder and world's wealthiest person Jeff Bezos, has long been touted by both Nelson and Scott for its New Glenn rocket manufacturing facility at Kennedy Space Center's Exploration Park. OneWeb Satellites, located across the street from Blue Origin and slated to launch its own constellation of internet-beaming spacecraft, has also been a topic of discussion for both politicians.

But it wasn't just politics that influenced Bolden's hour-long visit with Nelson: The duo flew on the Space Shuttle Columbia together in 1986 after Nelson, then a congressman, was chosen as a payload specialist for a mission known as STS-61C. That fact, however, has led some over the years to question Nelson's status, implying that he's not a "real astronaut."

"We are very guarded about the small community of people who call themselves astronauts," Bolden said. "I was not going to ever claim to be an astronaut until I had flown over 50 miles. Sen. Nelson has made it over 50 miles and spent six days in orbit. If that's not an astronaut, I don't know what is."

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly.